At our Leith, Scotland Cement Import Terminal the cement arrives in large vessels and any stoppages increase the risk of demurrage charge, so when the 14,000t Siwertell vessel arrived it was a 12 hour day shift for the team with Keith Buchan and Tony Wright starting at 6.00am.

After stoppages, due to rain, the covers were removed from the vessel to start extracting the cement. In the first three hours the electricity supply tripped out many times and the electricians diagnosed a motor failure on the horizontal screw feed to the cement shed. Following calls to various suppliers it appeared a replacement motor could take a week to arrive.

Whilst manning the control room Keith spoke to the vendors to find the best deal with the fastest delivery to site – a replacement finally arrived the following morning. Keith and Tony were still loading vehicles for customer bound deliveries whilst the new motor and gear box repairs were made. Hoping for a 4.00pm re-start the team then realised that the motor key was the wrong size! After searching everywhere at Forth Ports for assistance, finally Tony Wright took the key home to his own lathe to make the required alteration. He made it back to site at 10.00pm (after 11 hours on shift) where he was joined by Scott Williamson who changed his plans to help Tony complete the overhaul. The Port finally started to unload the ship shortly after midnight.

Well done to the whole team for their hard work, dedication and resourcefulness to avoid two days of potential downtime.